10/5 Post-Season: Two WS Losses, Mixed NLCS Bag

1927 – Pittsburgh’s Ray Kremer and the Yankees’ Waite Hoyt opened the World Series at Forbes Field. The Bucco wheels came off in the third when a pair of walks coupled with two errors and a muffed DP gave the Bronx Bombers three runs on one hit and a 4-1 lead. The Pirates kept chipping away – they had nine hits, led by Paul Waner’s 3-for-4 day – but dropped the game 5-4.

Big Poison 1927 Spaulding Die Cut

1960 – Roger Maris became the seventh player to homer in his first World Series at-bat. His round-tripper off Vern Law got the Yankees off to a quick 1-0 lead, but the Pirates won Game One of the Fall Classic at Forbes Field, 6-4. Pittsburgh scored three times in the first, and a two run homer by Bill Mazeroski in the fourth was the early game winner. The score wasn’t quite as close as it looked; the Yankees’ Elston Howard hit a two run, ninth inning homer off ElRoy Face to narrow the gap. The Bucco victory ended a 15-game Yankee winning streak.

1970 – Johnny Bench and Tony Perez homered of Bob Moose in the first inning and the Reds beat the Pirates 3-2 to sweep the NLCS at Riverfront Stadium. Cincinnati scored the lead run in the eighth after the Pirates had tied the game after two were out when a walk, single and Bobby Tolan knock plated the game winner. The Pirates collected 10 hits, but stranded a dozen runners. Willie Stargell went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI while Roberto Clemente, Al Oliver and Richie Hebner had two hits each. The Reds lost the World Series to Baltimore in five games.

1971 – Richie Hebner’s homer off Juan Marichal in the eighth inning gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 victory over the Giants at TRS and a 2-1 lead in the NLCS. Bob Johnson went eight innings of five hit ball with seven K and Dave Giusti picked up the save. The Bucs’ first tally came in the second, on another solo blast, this one by Bob Robertson. For Hebner, it was an act of redemption; his throwing error on a bunt led to SF’s only score, an unearned sixth inning run. Robertson’s homer was his fourth if the series, setting a record.

Richie Hebner 1971 Arco Promo

1974 – Don Sutton held Pittsburgh to four hits at TRS in the first game of the NLCS to claim a 3-0 win. It was a 1-0 duel between him and Jerry Reuss until the Dodgers added a pair of ninth inning tallies off of Dave Giusti. Willie Stargell had two of the Pirates four hits. Before today’s game, LA had been 0-6 at TRS during the regular season.

1975 – Fred Norman held the Bucs to five hits at Riverfront Stadium as the Cincinnati Reds easily took a two games to none lead in the NLCS by a 6-1 tally. Rennie Stennett and Richie Zisk had two knocks each; the only other Bucco hit was Willie Stargell’s RBI double. Jim Rooker took the loss, chased after just four innings.

1979 – The Pirates swept the NLCS, beating the Reds 7-1 at TRS behind Bert Blyleven, who went the distance for the series clincher. Willie Stargell, who homered, doubled and had three RBI, was named Series MVP. Bill Madlock also went long for the Bucs.

Willie Stargell 1979 Topps

1990 – The Reds tied the NLCS at a game with a 2-1 win at Riverfront Stadium as Tom Browning bested Doug Drabek. Paul O’Neill drove in both runs for Cincinnati, which only had five hits total; Chico Lind’s homer was it for Pittsburgh.